Leonardo da Vinci: Artist of Sketchbooks and Notebooks

Carmen Bambach, Andrew W. Mellon Professor, Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts, National Gallery of Art. Leonardo da Vinci is famous for his masterpieces of painting, such as the Ginevra de' Benci portrait at the National Gallery of Art. He is no less famous for his profoundly modern, inquisitive mind as a thinker and inventor. Little is understood about his activity as an author of sketchbooks and notebooks, which provide an important key to understanding his masterpieces. In this podcast recorded on October 30, 2011 at the National Gallery of Art, Carmen Bambach discusses how the drawings and writings of Leonardo da Vinci offer a moving and intimate insight into the complex and sometimes paradoxical workings of his genius mind.